


The Stranger

by Ulfrsmal



Series: March Musical Madness Masterpieces [23]
Category: The Last Kingdom (TV)
Genre: Drabble, First Meeting, Love at First Sight, M/M, March Musical Madness (The Last Kingdom), Soulmates, but not a proper soulmate AU cause that's hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29901000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ulfrsmal/pseuds/Ulfrsmal
Summary: Sihtric’s first time seeing Uhtred after he was rescued suddenly turns into a physical blow to his stomach and a sharp pain at his heart, like a lock sliding into place.
Relationships: Finan/Sihtric/Uhtred of Bebbanburg
Series: March Musical Madness Masterpieces [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185899
Comments: 10
Kudos: 5





	The Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> The title is [a song by Aeveron](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0RIDECQP6s).

The sight of his secretly beloved so utterly weakened, clothes tattered, his long hair wild and tangled, worms its dark way into Sihtric’s heart and refuses to leave. He’s quick to appear at Uhtred’s side – Uhtred, not his Lord, for he has already made it clear that Sihtric is to refer to him by name until he feels back at full capacity – but then, he falters.

There’s another man by Uhtred’s side, almost as tall as Sihtric himself, his hair dark and long like Uhtred’s. His equally dark eyes dart from Uhtred’s too-thin shoulders to Sihtric’s own body, jumping freely all over his armoured chest and exposed arms. It lingers most at his seax, which Sihtric cannot resent him for. Then the stranger rakes that scorching-hot gaze upwards, to Sihtric’s face, and his thoughts die in his mind as all air is forcefully taken from his lungs.

The stranger is undoubtedly one of the most handsome men Sihtric has seen in his entire life. Suddenly it’s not surprising that Uhtred would latch on to him, soul-drenching conditions aboard or none. It’s impossible to know how sharp the line of the stranger's jaw is, since he wears his beard long and unkept; Sihtric immediately decides that it suits him, though perhaps trimming it would do him good. His chapped lips are half-parted, mirroring how Sihtric’s own mouth has fallen opened upon feeling the stranger’s eyes on him.

Kissable lips. Dry-looking lips that Sihtric wants to trace with his tongue. As if on cue, the stranger's own tongue peeks in between lips and beard. The tip of it wets his lower lip just slightly, as if to entice without ever having be overtly vulgar, like Uhtred so often acts whenever he's on the prowl for flesh. The memory of Uhtred's blatant flirting, combined with the molten heat of the stranger's entire aura, is almost too much. Sihtric cannot breathe.

But the stranger doesn’t lick further at the outside of his mouth like Sihtric had been half-dreading and half-anticipating. His tongue retreats, quickly slithering back to wherever it came from. Sihtric tries to control his disappointment, the irrational urge to ogle this stranger at will, as if he and Uhtred have no say in the matter. Sihtric can distantly feel Uhtred's gaze on his skin, heavy and hooded. Sihtric hopes that his turbulent emotions don't show on his face; he already knows he’s blushing. Considering how pale his skin is, and how much Uhtred loves to point it out to him to embarrass him, it’s undoubtedly easy to tell he is blushing quite fiercely.

The stranger smirks at him, becoming the very picture of confidence in the span of a few seconds. Sihtric swallows drily, forces himself to look away from that enticing curve and up.

He cannot breathe anew.

Those dark flames still scorch him down to the very core, preventing him from taking a new air-gulp as easily as he normally does. This is more than just the eerily intense look that he's been dreading. This is nothing akin to the ones Uhtred gives to him. Oh no, this is a downright _stare_ ; one that glows giddily, like interested coals set powerfully aflame in the quiet dark of night. Sihtric holds the stranger’s gaze, though more because he cannot physically force himself to look away than due to anything else. He feels pinned in place, not at all unlike how he felt the first time Uhtred levelled him with one of his infamous, provocative stares, demanding Sihtric went on his knees and kissed his belt-buckle.

It had been almost impossible to resist the urge to simply _obey_. The need to prove himself, to make himself useful, to let Uhtred know he would do any and everything for him, had been all-consuming. Sihtric still remembers how his thighs had trembled, how his head had swum in the dense warmth of Uhtred's gaze. But then Uhtred had simply smiled and swung an arm around Sihtric's waist, pulling him close to Uhtred's side until their hips touched, saying that Sihtric had demonstrated his loyalty a thousand times over, that he needn't kiss any other sword.

Sihtric had heard the Norns laughing whole they spun his Fate when Uhtred then looked at him from head to toe, and back up the lenght of his torso, to his bitonal irises. Sihtric couldn’t breathe under Uhtred’s blue fire. And this stranger's dark flames are now doing exactly the same thing Uhtred's stares always do. And Sihtric still cannot breathe under their influence.

“Sihtric! Come here love, let me introduce you to Finan.”


End file.
